ALCA - FTAA - ZLEA - Contributions from Civil Society

Public
FTAA.soc/civ/61
October 18, 2002

Original: Spanish
Translation: FTAA Secretariat

FTAA - COMMITTEE OF GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES ON THE PARTICIPATION OF
CIVIL SOCIETY

CONTRIBUTION IN RESPONSE TO THE OPEN AND ONGOING INVITATION

Name(s)	José María Fumagalli
Organization(s)	Cámara de la Industria Química y Petroquímica
Country	Argentina

Chemical and Petrochemical Industrial Board

I. Introduction

In response to the open invitation to civil society in FTAA participating countries extended by the Committee of Government Representatives on the Participation of Civil Society, the Chemical and Petrochemical Industrial Board hereby submits two contributions and requests that they be discussed in the Negotiating Groups considered most appropriate by the Committee.

2.- Contribution on the FTAA process

Cooperation mechanisms for small and medium enterprises

The FTAA negotiating process has taken into consideration the specific case of smaller economies and developing countries, a topic that is being addressed in an ad hoc working group.

Nevertheless, there is a striking absence of provisions on cooperation mechanisms for helping small and medium enterprises integrate into the FTAA, particularly those that lack experience in international trade and are, therefore, extremely sensitive about the issue of hemispheric integration because they feel the process threatens their survival.

Small and medium enterprises provide the lion’s share of jobs in all the countries, regardless of the sizes of their economies or their levels of development.

By virtue of the foregoing, we respectfully propose that the Ministers of Trade entrust the Tripartite Committee with the task of designing cooperation mechanisms that are specifically geared towards helping small and medium enterprises participate in the FTAA, including:

Mechanisms to provide access to trade statistics information;

Mechanisms to provide training in international trade;

Mechanisms to promote the application of benchmarking techniques and techniques for identifying the business opportunities and niches that the FTAA offers;

Mechanisms to provide training and promote the integration of production chains;

Specific mechanisms to enable the small and medium enterprises and/or the productive chains of different countries in the Hemisphere to integrate with one another;

Other mechanisms, at the discretion of the Tripartite Committee.

These mechanisms should include studies, the identification of specific know-how, the provision of advisory services, and financial support measures that enable these mechanisms to be effectively implemented.

3.- Contribution on market access

We respectfully propose that the following clause be incorporated into the text on market access provisions:

Development Clause

When, during the transition period, an FTAA country begins to manufacture a product that it did not manufacture at the outset of the tariff elimination process, that country may increase its tariff protection of the product against imports from third markets, while keeping within the range of tariffs set out in the chapter covering the tariff nomenclature for the new product; in such circumstances, the country may adjust its tariff elimination procedure for imports of the new product from FTAA States Party by modifying the original tariff elimination offer such that it does not extend beyond the longest schedules or exceed the highest tariff levels in effect for manufactured products under the same chapter when manufacture of the new product begins.

Buenos Aires, 14 October 2002

CÁMARA de la INDUSTRIA QUÍMICA y PETROQUÍMICA
Web site: http://www.ciqyp.org.ar


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